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None of this would have ever happened if the WWF still ran on Diesel Power

After AJ Styles kicked off a minor online firestorm earlier this year because of his newfound belief that moments matter more than matches, I have a profound respect for his efforts to bring both sides of that debate together by having a Mania match that was neither good nor had a single moment anyone will remember.

I'm not glad to see Becky back, it was at the expense of Bayley who works hard all year long and isn't rewarded for it. Bayley probably doesn't say anything and just continues on waiting things to open up for her but it's complete nonsense. She deserves to be on that show every year while she's an active performer.

The women’s 3-way was incredible. By far the match of WWE’s weekend. They told a strong story through ACTION, not corny melodrama and monologues by sub-community theatre players. HELL YEAH.

That was a Pre-show Dark Match! That doesn't count!

Got two issues with life. Grandbaby #3 is here! Elliot Tobias arrived 4/14/25. He's chill. My daughter and little guy are good. Can't wait to meet him -- They're in Glendale Arizona. Nazi I represented got life. We got issues on appeal. We'll see.

What is professional wrestling if not "revisionist history" Anyway, I think Kross may have re-signed (or resigned?):

That was fucking bullshit. I hate Golden State. I hate Steph Curry. I hate Draymond Green. I will always hate them.

Pro tip: Having a guy who's entire gimmick is drinking beer operate a motor vehicle around thousands of people is a VERY bad idea.

The Hendry/Orton finish was so beautifully timed, just the most perfect version of "Hendry hits his whirling smile pose, only to get RKO'd from out of frame" that could ever happen

Guess that depends on how you feel about The Motor City Madman Edit: I know that was as Paul E. Dangerously but why let details get in the way of a joke?)

Post-match Sabu

I'm really curious as to what assets AAA actually had, for WWE to purchase. AAA themselves only actually run about 25-40 shows a year - which are their TV tapings. They will milk most tapings for two weeks worth of shows, and big events like a Triplemania, three sometimes. The non-taping events that AAA runs are generally spot shows, run by a local promiter that books talent thru AAA. AAA has very little talent under an actual contract. Vikingo is one, but most of the top tier talent are freelance, and they just take dates from AAA. For instance, Psycho Clown, who is AAA's top star, is widely believed to not be under contract, because he takes a ton of bookings outside of AAA, and only appears on their biggest events. A lot of the freelance AAA talent that was working AEW (Mortos specifically) stopped taking dates with AAA already, and are under contract to AEW. So, WWE isn't getting a big talent roster... what they a getting are a bunch of mid-carders that are expecting AAA to book them out on local shows so they can pay their bills. AAA doesn't own any arenas or venues, like CMLL does. They almost always work with local promoters, and either use their arenas, or rent a local venue. AAA has no exclusive contracts with venues like Auditorio Tijuana, Arena Ciudad Mexico City, etc. They do not have their own training center - a number of AAA stars have their own gyms (and even run Indy shows for that talent), so there is no talent pipeline that WWE is getting here. AAA does have an extensive tape library, going all the way back to 1992. AAA has been airing a lot of this footage on a loop on the AAA Pluto channel for over a year now, so I imagine WWE now owns this library. But, with the "Network" going away for the most part, I don't see this being uploaded anywhere for WWE to monetize, like they did with WCW/ECW/territory footage in the past. AAA currently has a TV contract with Space in Mexico, but they had actually lost this deal earlier in the year, and speculation is they have been purchasing the time (or at least not getting a rights fee). So WWE isn't getting a strong TV outlet that has a lot of value to them. Keep in mind, AAA was having a lot of financial issues. They never recovered from Covid they way a lot of other promotions did, and they relied heavily on outside foreign talent for major shows. Dorian Roldan invested millions of USD into "Luchatitlan" - which was essentially a "dinner theatre" type of tourist attraction in Cancun. Think of it as a Vegas residency type of set up, where they had a permanent "cast" that did multiple shows everyday. This venture failed miserably, and it crippled AAA financially. I think if anything, what WWE is getting here is a "middle man" that will help them promote big events in Mexico. But like I said earlier, AAA themselves used local promoters for this themselves. What I honestly see here is TKO as a typical predatory investor that is going to strip all of the assets and value out of AAA and then put a bullet in the other parts they don't want. Some guys like Konnan and Dorian Roldan will make out until they cross the wrong person, and then they will be on the outside looking in.

There's a clip from someone's phone going around. It looks like it was a real roast Ala the Friars Club. I heard a guy say to Strowman that he looked like if a meth lab blew up next to a GNC.

This was the best post-Mania Raw I can think of in a long time, probably because it fell on Rusev Day.

The best scenario for me is maybe getting to see Casas work some legends matches with some wwe folk, I guess most notably Rey.

So in theCubsFan's post today on the Luchablog, he has a couple interesting tidbits. You should go read it anyway for the heartfelt obit for Black Terry, but here are a couple of the more interesting things we've kinda mentioned here ... So, if only 13 male wrestlers are under contract, and most of them are the "gimmicks" that AAA owns, similar to Drago, you're probably looking at a bunch of guys like the new La Parka, the new Black Taurus, the new Octagon Jr, the new Abismo Negro, etc. - none of the top stars. Pagano is a big surprise. The conventional wisdom at the time was that Vikingo was under contract to AAA when he was pulled from AEW, but maybe not. Cubs didn't mention him at all. $50MUSD seems like way too much for AAA, considering they really don't have a lot of assets. Maybe TKO is assuming debts, and that totals $50M? Or, that is just a bullshit number. In the comments, a reader posted that Fillip Executive Chairman Alberto Fasja as also being a board member of Endeavor Mexico - so maybe this mysterious third party is just a "holding company" of sorts for TKO to do business in Mexico?

From being potentially a victim of vehicular homicide to committing voluntary manslaughter in a matter of moments...life comes at you fast.

The only thing that ESPN is probably going to hate about is mentioning the Shannon Sharpe lawsuit. I guess we should be thankful that WM wasn't last week because at this rate we would have talked about the women in Mississippi and just fuck everything up Also I am sure that Braun Strowman is happy that Heyman is telling people that cried about not being on WM and then told the reason he wasn't there because "he sucks"

Yeah never want to hear about places like AEW "Exposing the business".

Having seen all of Mania except the first two matches of night two, I thought it was not only a shitshow, but also a shit show.

With only a few more days left to go to their big loser must retire match, Saya has just "hit" Tam with a car while Tam was doing a promo. In her post Saya claims that despite her busy schedule she got her car license in two months just to do this. The detail is that you can see the green and yellow sticker on the car that signifies a new driver in Japan.

you see, Samoan heads ar---CARRIER LOST

This from my experience in business finance and from local media but deals take time to form so you can't think in terms of "AEW has rumors of a secondary show on Tubi, then a few weeks later WWE has a show on Tubi" as being a direct action. It's likely that both entities were talking to Fox about a show on Tubi and whatever AEW was proposing didn't work out but the Evolve show did. Same with the AAA purchase vs the joint AEW/NJPW/CMLL show. You're not clearing a purchase of a company between countries (particularly in a tariff proxy war among other things) a week after another company announces a joint show. That's probably been in talks for months and had to get a bunch of stuff cleared. I just want an over the top Psycho Clown entrance in a WWE game one day. And maybe LU on Netflix in good resolution.

I had a pretty good feeling after the first three matches. Hot start. Bianca/Iyo/Rhea stole the show. But after the third match..... wow. Lmaoooo that main event sucked and still no Rock

A Wrestlemania III cart would have changed everyone's perception.

The women’s tag match was so good. Loved that they sat down and saw the Steamboat/Dustin vs. Enforcers match from that Clash of Champions and decided to do a tribute. The women’s three way also ruled, not a lot of “one person hurt for an abnormally long time” match, it felt like a true one-on-one-on-one match. The four-way IC match was also golden. I’m excited for heel Cena trying to ruin wrestling.

I think you may be overthinking it just a tad bit just because: 1. There are too many platforms (and I definitely mean too many) for different entities to go to and survive, if not, thrive in today's world. For WWE to have an actual monopoly, they would have to do the equivalent of a LF, CF, or RF covering the largest outfield in MLB by his damn self or a DB trying to cover 4 or 5 WRs at one time. It's an impossibility. I somewhat begrudgingly agree it won't stop them from trying, but it's still an impossibility. In this lifetime or the next lifetime. Too much ground to cover, and it's only going to get bigger. That and pro wrestling itself is not big enough or in demand enough in any market including the United States where people (networks and the like) would want it the quantities of the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, etc. by one singular entity. Hey, maybe somehow crazy shit happens and it gets there one day. Point remains though it ain't going to be today, tomorrow, or the next day. Pro wrestling is just big enough where multiple businesses with one predominant company can do well enough that hundreds and hundreds of folks can be gainfully employed. That's it. 2. WWE, just like UFC, has been on a mission to wipe out all the competition for 20+ years. Guess what? Anytime one company disappears, four or five pop back up. All those companies go away? Seven or eight pop back up. It may not be in the spots where they're most needed or specifically replacing the old ones especially regionally, but they serve the endgame purpose needed usually: cultivate and develop talent and give them valuable reps. It wasn't until about ten years ago (coincidentally coinciding with the start of the class action lawsuit) that UFC stopped directly targeting competition. Why? They figured there was no need cause everyone else IS their developmental. You get rid of your developmental system, then when people get to you, they probably won't be ready for the next level. Vince try as he might wasn't successfully doing it just cause WWF/E was never on an island to itself. There were always people who either had the same amount of money as Vince or way more than Vince. The latter always pissed Vince off so he made himself the perpetual underdog, when in actuality he could always pick and choose when he was the cruel master or when he was good guy fighting the dastardly villain. It's the same way here with some of the buzzwords and verbiage as you likely notice from the old days except it's no longer Vince having to respond to Turner and WCW putting belt to ass in terms of ratings and buyrates. WWE is under immense pressure getting paid a bunch of money and on the largest platforms possible for visibility, and they have to respond in kind and show they're doing actual work to prove that they deserve to get those huge rights fees, sponsorship dollars, etc. They cannot sit back, relax, and just try to skate by. To be fair, it's going to be the same way with AEW cause they're getting paid too and expecting to get paid a lot more in future years. However, I am not sure if ANY of these moves have a direct correlation with what goes on with their competition to the point where any party needs to be concerned about what's going on. When Tony Khan is ready to move on from AEW, we will likely know. If the parent org for WWE decides, you know what? We can get significant value selling off different pieces, then, we will know. But until then? No one is going anywhere. The indies and some of these lesser companies now international...they've always been in flux. Just not enough to notice, on the verge of going out of business, or being in rough enough shape where it's probably the right move is to sell. Anything that's not the tippy top (i.e. WWE or AEW or CMLL or up until recently, New Japan) is like water. It takes the form of any container it's in. The unofficial job of those companies has always been to bend to the will of the demands of the industry. It not spelled out so explicitly. It's just that now that WWE or AEW or whomever is directly involved, then it seems like a cause for concern. It likely isn't. You will still be watching and loving wrestling in some shape or form (perhaps not as passionately, but YMMV). We have seen wars being raged and fought for decades, and people are still watching wrestling. For better or for worse.

Thunder Interlude – show number one hundred and fifty-two – 14 March 2001 "The WCW Gang features some guys who really needed WCW to survive for the sake of their pro wrestling careers" Recap: Back on Nitro, we said a final goodbye to Midajah (again) and a hearty hello and welcome back to Stacy Keibler, among other things… Rad intro time!... Now that Jamie Kellner is about to axe WCW programming on Turner networks, this is (I believe, from checking my dates) our last WCW show before everyone in the company realizes that things have gone from the regular August 1998 – October 2000 level of fucked into some new level of hellishly über gigafucked as far as this company goes… I almost wish that I had been able to somehow see into the future and time the review of the last Nitro with the eerily similar-ish announcement that WWE/TKO is acquiring AAA… Two Count (Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias) open the show attempting to make their way into the finals of the cruiserweight tag title tournament at Greed…Standing in their way are former WCW World Tag Team Champions and odds-on favorites Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman…This is a solid bout…It starts out a bit more slowly than the usual bouts in this division…Karagias can’t get right until he manages to counter a Rey attack with a spinebuster… Moore tags in and tries his best to rush down Rey whenever Misterio tries to counter, but he can’t stop Kidman from making a blind tag on a rope run and combining with Rey to turn the tide of the match…That doesn’t last for long, however, as Karagias pulls the top rope down as Kidman tries to rebound off the ropes and then tosses him into the guardrail… Kidman’s the babyface in peril…Karagias lands a crossbody as part of a crossbody-and-vertical-suplex combo, then goes to chokes and chinlocks…Rey makes the save on a Karagias post-diving bulldog pinfall attempt, but Karagias plays to his strengths and press slams Kidman before Kidman can make a hot tag…Immediately after that, Karagias plays to his weaknesses and springboards right into a counter dropkick from Kidman… Rey makes the hot tag and speeds the match up…It’s like someone pressed a turbo button on a gamepad somewhere…Karagias manages to squelch Rey’s burst of offense…He lands a neckbreaker, then manages a 450, but Kidman breaks up the pinfall at two…Kidman tries to land a Kid Krusher on Karagias, but Moore interrupts and lands a Bottoms Up on Kidman for two (even though, as Tony S. points out, Kidman’s not legal)…Meh, doesn’t matter… The babyfaces dispatch of Karagias and hit Moore with a baseball slide to the nads and a Bronco Buster…They attempt a Nutcracker Suite, but Karagias trips Rey…He goes up to follow with something spectacular, but Rey crotches him and hits a seated senton to the floor, which sparks a pretty dive from Moore onto Rey and a ugly Kidman springboard splash onto everybody…The match makes it back to the ring, where Moore is caught by walking the ropes and held up by Kidman so that Rey can launch himself with a missile dropkick that knocks Moore out for three…Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo hit the ring and face off with the winners, but they lose a short brawl and are dispatched from the ring with great force…The finishing run probably elevated this one to list-worthiness… A security camera oversees a bunch of wrestlers in catering chowing down on lunch or maybe dinner…Specifically, we focus on Disco Inferno incessantly chattering on about how great he feels about his partnership with a silent, simmering Alex Wright…It’s not until Disco eats something off Wright’s plate (while saying “You are by far my best friend I’ve ever had”) that Wright goes over the edge, flips the table, and yells I’M SICK OF YOU…Disco is clueless as to the reasons for Wright’s reaction (and clueless in general, both in kayfabe and as a shoot), as he usually is… Diamond Dallas Page cuts an annoying babyface promo on Scott Steiner…He’s STILL STANDING and plans to be FOUR-TIME WCW World Heavyweight Champion…He asserts that Diamond Cutters come from nowhere and anywhere all at once, and DDP plans to drop Scotty with one out of nowhere (or anywhere) in four days…Page is interrupted by Dustin Rhodes…Page is annoyed until Rhodes says that CEO Flair sent him out to the ring and that he has no beef with Page, nor any interest in fighting him… The TurnerTron lights up with sudden activity as CEO Flair speaks into the BuffCam…The CEO reaffirms that Scott Steiner is getting the night off, but neither of the men in the ring will receive that luxury…He books them against Jeff Jarrett and Rick Steiner for later in the show…CEO Flair then shows his age by asking the men in the ring, “Is this live, or is this Memorex?”…Jarrett and Ricky Steiner jump the men from behind as soon as the question is out of Flair’s mouth…The babyfaces manage to fight them off and send them bailing to the floor, though… Jason Jett receives a jobber entrance for his bout with Alex Wright…Spaceman Spiff is absolutely right that Jett looks like a promising addition to WCW’s soon-to-be-dead cruiserweight division…If only he were right about whether or not his poor ship could outrun an alien fleet without being shot down...Wright is buoyant with confidence as he opens the match with chops…Jett tries to get the pace of the match up to his liking, but Wright kills one attempt with a back kick to the solar plexus and another attempt with a powerslam…Wright follows up with a high-angled back suplex for two… Man, WCW wasted the hell out of Alex Wright…I’ve watched him manage to improve greatly over the past six years even with all the long layoffs and inconsistent booking…There’s at least a strong long-term midcard talent in there who is in the mix at the World Tag and U.S. title level with regularity…He’s having a really good match with Jett right now, who explodes up with moves like his front flip into a lariat before Wright uses his greater experience to counter Jett out of what looks like it might be a longer run of offense… Wright casually covers on a wheel kick and only gets two…He then casually covers on a superplex and again only gets two…Tony S. and Tenay caution Wright against this on commentary…Wright is annoyed that Jett won’t just stay down and hits a flying forearm that knocks Jett off the apron and to the floor…Back in the right, Wright hits a snap suplex and bridges for two…He tries it again, and Jett manages to leverage himself into a small package that only gets two…Wright gets up first, hits a lariat – as is the way of heels who have just been flash pinned for two – and then puts on a hammerlock… He lets it go after not getting a submission, celebrates how rad he is, and then chops Jett before flinging him into the opposite corner…Jett tries to catch himself and hit a springboard splash to counter it, but Wright simply steps aside…It is clear that Wright should win this bout with his experience advantage, but he refuses to take Jett seriously and is always in danger of being caught by some dynamic offense from the rookie…Jett manages to hit a handspring elbow and tries once again to reel off a run of offense…He does land a dropkick, but he’s too in love with springboards off the ropes…Wright catches him and Hot Shots him…Wright tries to lock Jett up from behind, but after a couple of standing switches, Jett maneuvers Wright into vertical suplex position, hoists him up, and then simply drops him for a Crash Landing that gets three…This match was very fun…It’s exactly the type of television match that WCW excels at putting on…I simply don’t feel that since WCW died, I’ve ever seen a show consistently lay out interesting midcard TV matches on U.S. weekly television with the exception of mid-New Tens NXT… We see another slice of CEO Flair’s documentary…He tells Lex Luger that he’s got to get to the bottom of who attacked Midajah…Then, the CEO books Totally Buff in a Four Corners Elimination Match against Palumbo and O’Haire with the plan to get one of the rookies eliminated so that the other one is left at a handicap against the veterans… Hype video: Booker T. looks like he might be a competent main eventer in kayfabe…He’ll be trying to win the U.S. Championship over two years later than he originally should have at Greed…Oh man, am I going to indulge myself and go off about this when I write about his match with Rick Steiner in the next review… It doesn’t matter how funny and pretty Stacy Keibler is, she is absolutely not going to get Shawn Stasiak over…I could replace Stasiak’s name with Test’s name in that sentence…Same thing…Stace should do all of Stasiak’s talking for him…She does not do all Stasiak’s talking for him, unfortunately…Stasiak doesn’t like portly folks, is not a fan of body art, and believes that reconstructive dental work is key to physical health…He’s also not a fan of baldness, but I have bad news for him considering his already-retreating hairline… Anyway, Reno is bald and has tattoos, so he walks out here and starts an impromptu match with Stasiak…Reno tries hard, which I appreciate, and while this match isn’t good, it’s not going to bum anyone out…Stasiak is a black hole of charisma, but it is what it is…Stasiak controls most of the match after an initial Reno flurry of offense…The cocky Stasiak doesn’t pay for his profligacy in the way that Alex Wright did just a match ago…Stasiak lands an Alley Oop into the buckles for two…That was a cool spot…He then slips out of a Roll of the Dice and maneuvers Reno into a Rude Awakening for three…I think the Alley Oop Buckle Bomb should have won it, though…That move ruled…JOHNNY CAGE SHAWN STASIAK WINS…Stacy Keibler dances in celebration and the fellas on the hard cam side wake up for the first time all match…Bam Bam Bigelow stops all that by attacking Stasiak and sending him tumbling to ringside… Will CEO Flair’s gambit work out?...Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell, Sean O’Haire, and Chuck Palumbo wrestle in a Four Corners Elimination Match next…This is fine for what it is…The match is really about who is going to get eliminated first, and so none of the work leading to that first elimination feels urgent to me…I feel, after watching this Nitro run again, that O’Haire got all the “what if” hype because he was a large guy with a senton bomb and because he had the association with Roddy Piper and the Devil’s Advocate gimmicks that both looked interesting, but never went anywhere…But if you watch him in the ring, he does a bunch of moves with unnecessary flourishes and isn’t as good at stringing together interesting sequences as Chuck Palumbo…I’ve come around on Palumbo’s potential quite a bit on this watch…He was hurt by WCW’s closure pretty badly…In WCW, he’s at worst a perennial U.S. Championship guy… Anyway, Buff chop blocks Palumbo from behind the ref’s vantage point when Palumbo is holding Luger up for a slam…Luger falls on top of Palumbo and ref Mickey Jay counts to three…That’s all for naught when Palumbo sticks around and throws hands with Buff Bagwell…O’Haire is one-on-one with Luger and scores a Jungle Kick…Luger scootches over so he can put his boot on the ropes to break the count, but Palumbo shoves it right back off the rope…Luger is eliminated, followed quickly by Buff when O’Haire scores a Seanton Bomb for three…The rookies continue to dominate the vets in this feud…They’re going to ramp that domination up a notch at Greed… Hey, it’s Mike Sanders!...We see him on security cam, chilling out outside of CEO Flair’s room…Hahahaha, Disco walks up and greets him, then says that he and Alex Wright split up…Sanders, matter-of-factly: “Huh, I didn’t know you guys were an item”…He nailed the delivery of that line, which probably explains something about why he decided to do standup after he left pro wrestling…Here’s another guy who had potential to be a strong talker, but was probably too Southern for Vinnie Mac…Dammit, I miss my big Southern-focused promotions on television…Disco tries to get Mike Sanders to tag with him later in the night…He initially refuses Disco, at least until CEO Flair asks him to unclog the office toilet that Road Warrior Animal absolutely destroyed…See, tagging with Disco is actually a better fate than at least a few alternatives!... Hype video: Dusty Rhodes vs. Ric Flair in 2001 continues to be quite a lot of fun…They needed to put Dusty on television more than they have, though...I have to give Jeff Jarrett credit for the Dusty impression, too…He’s very hit-and-miss at this sort of comedy, but when he hits, he often cracks me up… The BuffCam catches CEO Flair asking Road Warrior Animal to suss out the culprit who attacked Midajah so that Scott Steiner will calm down a bit already…The CEO points him toward Dustin Rhodes and DDP…HAHAHAHAHA…So, while giving Animal his marching orders, he blithely asserts that he is certain that no one on their side was behind the attack…Animal leaves, and CEO Flair waits for him to go before loudly whispering: BUFF, Y’KNOW SOMETHING BUFF, IF ANYBODY DID IT, IT’S ANIMAL; I DON’T TRUST HIM, DO YOU?...CEO Flair is one of my favorite characters in the whole Nitro Era… It just struck me now that CEO Flair coming in as co-owner of the WWE after Shane and Stephanie sold out to him makes a ton of sense…Flair probably made some storyline connections while CEO…Those connections likely helped Flair raise the cash and placed him as the face of the purchase a la Bischoff’s role with Fusient Media right now…That’s now my headcanon…Flair saw what Bisch and Fusient tried to do with WCW and then replicated that strategy successfully by purchasing his way into co-ownership of the Dub… Sugar Shane Helms (w/cool Nitro Girls dance routine) wrestles the extremely-in-need-of-a-gimmick-change Kwee Wee…Allan Funk is a solid worker…WCW probably should have tagged Funk and Mike Sanders together again for real instead of having them be an odd couple temporary tag team for this cruiserweight tag tournament…I do think that Sanders and Funk have their uses in the cruiserweight division, too…Mostly as bases for the offense of all the high-flyers… Kwee Wee survives Helms’s shine segment and embarks upon a long heel control segment of the type that Eric Bischoff would dislike because it slows the pace of the match…I do think that the Kwee Wee and Mike Sanders types would have had to learn to pick up the pace on their control segments if Bischoff took creative control of the company…It’s pretty clear that Bischoff’s a huge fan of Dean Malenko’s balance of catching offense for the high-flyers while continually doing something and almost never stopping his movement based on what he’s looking for in his cruiserweights…You know who was also really good at that?...Ultimo Dragon…I will once again note my love for Ultimo Dragon here… Kwee Wee really unloads on Helms, who survives a series of nearfalls and aborted comebacks before he’s able to land a knee-assisted facecrusher and a Sugar Smack…He calls for a Vertebreaker, but Kwee Wee flips out of it and scores a sunset flip for two…Kwee Wee misses a second-rope dive so badly that it looks awful…Helms is already way the hell out of the way before Kwee Wee even dives…A follow-up Vertebreaker from Helms scores the duke…Chavo Jr. once again attacks Helms from behind after the match…Helms is able to fight this attack off…They work a nice sequence in which Helms scores his knee-assisted facebuster and then Sugar Smacks Chavo off the apron…Chavo tumbles halfway down the aisle…I’m really looking forward to their match… You know how I know Disco Inferno is a heel?...He’s wearing a Manchester United jersey in 2001…That’s how I know Disco Inferno is a heel…Konnan and Hugh Morrus are the opponents for Disco and Mike Sanders…I like Disco and Sanders, but the other half of this match have my eyes glazed over…I’ve spent this review talking about how I’m sad that WCW is gone because it harmed the U.S. careers of a few guys who I like…Well, one good thing about WCW going bye-bye is that I was subjected to very little Hugh Morrus or Konnan after that…And Konnan was a net-positive in TNA and Lucha Underground as a talker, or at least that’s what I recall thinking about him…I feel like WCW would have pushed Hugh Morrus until the heat death of the universe if they would have existed for that long… This match is watchable enough…Konnan and Morrus connect on a Hart Attack…That doesn’t put Disco down for the count, but Konnan’s bad Chartbuster, a Morrus No Laughing Matter, and Konnan’s Tequila Sunrise as the capper definitely do…On the replay, I notice Konnan drilling Sanders with a very high-angled back suplex…Nasty work…But yeah, that was perfectly fine…In a nice little touch, Tony S. sends us to ads, but before the camera fades out, Lance Storm and Mike Awesome launch a surprise attack on Konnan and Morrus from behind as they back up the ramp…The camera stuck around without completely fading, so it was a planned little surprise that Tony S. sold well... Buff Bagwell is filming on the BuffCam when he comes across Road Warrior Animal laid out under a wall that has been graffiti’d with the words IT WASN’T HIM…Buff has quite the freak out!...Was it supposed to be Sting, maybe?...Except for the part where he attacks a woman, having Sting take out Magnificent Seven members one at a time seems like a reasonable way to fold him back into the mix… Hype video: DDP! Scott Steiner! It’ll probably be good, but they’ve had underwhelming matches in the past! We’re running out of Thunder main events…Jeff Jarrett and Rick Steiner make it out here for our second-to-last one of them…Dustin Rhodes and Diamond Dallas Page are their opponents as you’ll recall…I am entirely conditioned not to engage with this match until the finish…If a big main-event style match happens in the middle of a Nitro or Thunder, I expect a proper finish…If it happens at the end of the match, I expect nonsense and fuckery…Half of the HOT TAKES thread members would have been enraged at Rick Steiner making a tag while standing on the floor…Then again, there are no tag ropes, so I suppose that **Cole Porter voice** ANYTHING GOES… DDP is your face in peril…He gets a D-D-P chant that they don’t actually have to add in post-production…I can see most of the fans on the hard cam side doing it…Good for you, WCW!...You got a genuine fan reaction on an episode of Thunder!...Twice, even!...The dudes were into Stacy Keibler’s stripper dance…Page fights his way out of the enemy corner and scores a hot tag to Dustin…Dustin is an abode aflame…Rick Steiner clears out referee Nick Patrick with a Steinerline…CEO Flair runs down to count the pinfall on Ricky’s follow-up belly-to-belly, but Page breaks it up…The CEO throws a very un-CEO-like tantrum (I guess unless you’re the CEO of Tesla or something), then tries to punch Page…He fails, but it doesn’t matter…Jeff Jarrett KABONGs Dustin and then lands a Stroke…Patrick revives and counts to three…The Magnificent Seven get in the ring after the bout…O’Haire and Palumbo try to make a save, which brings a whole slew of folks out…Lance Storm and Mike Awesome rush down to the ring followed by Hugh Morrus and Konnan…It’s the babyfaces who manage to stand tall…Also, DDP is STILL STANDING, just in case you were unaware… I’ll have quite a bit to say about the general perception of the quality of Thunder’s run versus my own assessment of that run in the final Thunder review coming up…As far as this review is concerned, all that is left to share is the grade… WOOO…

Ok, to set the table a bit, Psycho Clown is the son of Brazo De Plata (aka Super Porky), and "Los Brazos Alvarado" are a huge family in the wrestling business. For a couple decades, Brazo De Oro (Psycho's uncle) was the head of the luchador's union. Then in 2017, he passed away. So, the union needed a new leader. The Brazos were of the opinion that the position should remain within their family. CMLL was campaigning for Ultimo Guerrero to be the new union head. So, the Brazos decided the best way to show their opposition to UG (who supposedly was on the programming staff in CMLL) was to find his car in the Arena Mexico parking garage, and destroy it. The four main guys in that video are Psycho's cousin La Mascara, his brother Maximo, Bobby Zavala (all of whom worked for CMLL), and Psycho himself (who worked for AAA). Needless to say, the video got out and CMLL fired all three of their guys, but Psycho got off scott free. Now, also keep in mind that Negro Casas is an absolute legend in Mexico, and was pretty much a CMLL lifer. He comes from a large wrestling family as well (Heavy Metal & Felino are his brothers), and his daughter married Psycho Clown. A couple years ago Casas (who is still working, at 65) was starting to get moved down the cards in CMLL, and being booked less frequently. He asked CMLL if he could start taking indie dates working with his son in law, and CMLL told him no. So Casas quit with no notice and jumped to AAA with his wife Dalys (who is much younger) so he could tag with Psycho. They were actually recently the AAA tag champions.

Everything on the main show is worth a catch. That said, the main event and tag titles match were the standouts to me.

i'm guessing a lot of Samoan wrestlers working under a mask would have the "Jimmy Valiant with hair sticking out from under his mask" Charlie Brown look

Watching MobLand right now. Fun little show. Anyway, I just heard Helen Mirren say the coldest thing ever to Pierce Brosnan. His daughter gets out of a car to come to the house: Mirren: You didn't tell me she was showing up. Brosnan: My mistake. Mirren: Is that your pet name for her? *walks off*

i've always felt that was somewhat of a dig at Foley. kind of a "what he did before was garbage wrestling, but when he wrestled ME and/or got to WWE, he learned how to actually perform". Maybe that's not how he meant it, but that's my read.

My general thoughts: * Both nights could've shaved off some time from the main events and spread that time around elsewhere, especially Jacob Fatu vs. LA Knight and the IC title Fatal 4-way give me more of that. * Good set overall. Much better than WrestleMania 40's underwhelming, garbage set. Not as good as WrestleMania 39. That said, I did enjoy those video blocks they hung from the ceiling that slid down for the entrances for the triple threat. That was a cool touch. * The crowd was relatively better on Night 2. On Night 1 they were garbage, anemic and low energy. The fans got up for Jey Uso vs. Gunther and they did everything right to feed into Jey Uos's win. The rest of the night they were awful, though Jacob Fatu and LA Knight seemed to do a good job of waking the fans back up. * Jey Uso vs. Gunther was as good as can be expected. Jey Uso isn't a transcendent wrestler, but he's a good overall "worker." The fans wanted to see him win the big one finally, and he did. I liked that he started throwing some of Gunther's offense back at him and won with a sleeper hold. I think the good thing is that Jey Uso looks like a very vulnerable and beatable champion. Jey Uso shouldn't hold the title for 9 months or a year. He should hold it, maybe six months max. It wouldn't surprise me if Logan Paul beats him to win the title. Either way, I expect a short reign for Jey Uso. * The crowd was dead for War Raiders vs. New Day. I feel bad for the War Raiders. They finally got a WrestleMania title match, and it was such an underwhelming situation. I remember seeing them at NJPW in the USA, and fans were rabid for them to win the IWGP Tag Team Titles. They had built this grassroots fanbase, and fans were into it. Their gear last night looked cheap as hell. Didn't look like they had their A-team working on their extra-special entrance gear. * Jade Cargill vs. Naomi proves that Jade Cargill isn't built for WWE. Jade Cargill looks like she jumped out of a comic book. She's got a billion-dollar body, but she can't put it together in WWE. AEW was a much better place for her because they protected her and knew how to book matches to her strengths. In WWE, she's absolutely exposed. That finish was so awkward. * Jacob Fatu vs. LA Knight was solid. Fatu is freaking money. It's insane how fast he moves for his size. His moonsaults look insane. It really looks like he worked hard to prep his body for WWE, and it paid off big time for him. This was mainly about elevating Jacob Fatu and his overall ascension, and they pulled it off beautifully. This is sure to be the first of many title reigns for Fatu. If they play their cards right with Fatu, he can be a title contender and world champion in the next two years. He should undoubtedly be in that mix. Finish played out perfectly here. Knight put over Fatu and made him look strong. Fatu has already far surpassed Solo Sikoa in the Bloodline, it's not even funny. I feel bad for Solo. He's not terrible, but putting him in a group with Jacob Fatu only emphasizes how much better Fatu is than him. * Stratton vs. Charlotte turned out better than I expected all things considered. The fans were veering toward Stratton, and they played off that well. I liked Tiffany's Barbie entrance. I don't know what's going on with Charlotte, but it looks like she possibly lost a lot of muscle mass after her torn ACL. Clearly she's had a lot of wear and tear and been at this for a while now, so her slowing down isn't all that surprising. But considering she put over Stratton here, I think that was the right call. I do think fans are just getting tired that Charlotte takes lots of time off and only shows up for Rumble and Mania season, where she's always back in the main events. I think that's why fans are frustrated with her. * Like many main events these days, the Triple Threat was too long. It did not need to take 32 minutes. 20-25 minutes would've been fine for all of that. I mostly like the finish angle. I'm willing to see where they go with it. I did like that Roman didn't want to play along with Rollins' schtick of targeting CM Punk, and that Roman was upset with Heyman for seemingly siding with Punk. I do see heel Rollins as someone who possibly could be the guy to unseat Jey Uso, and we'll go from there. * Women's triple threat was fast-paced and fun for the most part. The fans were into it and popping for Iyo. That said, it didn't really feel like a WrestleMania match and feud. I still think it should've been Bianca and Rhea Ripley, which was the real money match and feud. At least they seem to be trying to give Iyo some effort now, which I feel like they didn't in her last title reign. * Drew McIntyre vs. Damian Priest was fun. McIntyre's athleticism at 39 years old considering his size astounding. I popped huge for that somersault plancha. You rarely saw Undertaker pull one off that good. Glad both guys got to have a fun, tough singles match at WrestleMania that paid off. Also enjoyed McIntyre's selfie gag replay. Nice play off the gag last year. McIntyre is an underrated heel and worker. I would also not mind if he beats Jey Uso to win the title, but it will probably go to Logan Paul. * Men's IC Title Fatal 4-Way. More of this, please. Dominik Mysterio got to a point where he became so hated and so reviled that fans are now loving him. The rizz always rises to the top. I never imagined Dominik becoming this good, but the kid is good. He knows how to work. He understands the little things. When he turned heel, he absolutely embraced and did all sorts of things to make the fans hate him, and he looks like an oily bastard. And all those heelish things are now why fans love him. In the post-fight show, he was talking about getting some chicken tendies and fans were cheering him. He's like the Gen Z champion. Finish was freaking perfect with Finn almost getting the pin, then Dominik breaking it up with a Frog Splash and stealing it. I figured something like that was going to happen. Felt like an appropriate Eddie move, something Dominik is also very conscious of and subtly plays into for his character. I think everyone came out of this looking good. Penta loses nothing here, really. Bron had the belt for a good six months this time, but I feel like they are only now starting to understand what works with Bron. He's got the best-looking spear in this business, so now he can just spear Carlito every week. And hey, good on Carlito for bumping like a fiend for Bron and making him look like a badass with those filthy, gnarly-looking spears. I popped huge for Bron's Frankensteiner. Bron's athleticism is insane. Dude looks like a thick chunky slab of meat, but he moves like a junior heavyweight. It's insanely fun to watch. I think once Bron figures out the right character thing, which he's still finding, he will be on his way and get to that world title level. He's not quite there yet. He's got all the tools, and I think he proved here that he's a great worker and he can put everything together. He's just got to figure out the character mode that really clicks and works other than being Steiner Jr. But his athleticism and in-ring charisma are so smooth, crisp, and crazy, once/if he does figure it out, it's going to be insane. Seriously, did you see that Frankensteiner? He does it just as good, if not better than his uncle, the way he snaps it off. My only complaint about this match is that I wish it had five more minutes. * I'm kind of meh on forcing this Orton match but I guess it was a good breather sort of thing, and Joe Hendry got to have a WrestleMania moment so good for him. He pretty much got squashed, but I mean what else was going to happen wrestling Orton at Mania? I didn't really love it, but it was fine I suppose. It is WrestleMania after all. * Logan Paul vs. AJ Styles. I'm surprised this got close to 18 minutes. I don't think it needed that much time. Styles is clearly nearing the end. I think Styles packing on all that extra muscle during his time off was a bad idea because, between that and his wear and tear, it's slowing him down. Paul didn't really have that one viral spot to put this match over the top. I did like that even though Kross wasn't working a match at Mania, they seemed to be advancing his storyline with AJ and played into it. I like Kross, and I hope this means they are finally doing something with him. I'd hate to see him get released in the next year since he's one of the more interesting characters in WWE right now. * Yeah, Bayley got treated like garbage here. They put together a big return and moment for Becky at the expense of Bayley, which I think was unfair. I thought this was kind of a random match to book at WrestleMania in the first place. No match for Chelsea Green, the incredibly over Women's United States Champion either. Lyra Valkyria is good. She's very cute. She's the women's IC champ, but she hasn't really found her character yet. The good news is that she's young and has time to develop. That said, the match was nothing special. It felt like a waste to me, and also very disrespectful of Bayley to just toss her aside like that. Should've had Bayley feuding with Chelsea Green instead of this bait and switch trash. * Everyone seems to be sour on John Cena vs. Cody, but I didn't mind it really. I don't really think it needed to go over 20 minutes, but it did what it needed to do. Frankly, I'm surprised it took fans this long to finally start souring on Cody's schtick. It happened in AEW, too in a shorter amount of time. Cody is very obnoxious, so it's not surprising. But fans surprisingly bought into the whole finish the storyline and truly believed it, which is fine. But Cody finished the story and didn't really have any compelling feuds or storylines after that. He was stuck in a rut of "matches" and/or underwhelming matches with The New Bloodline and Solo Sikoa, which were mostly trash. But this match accomplished what it needed to accomplish. It gave Cena the title. So Meltzer did end up being right about The Rock not working WrestleMania after all that. People give Meltzer a lot of garbage, some of it is deserved, but he was right on here. And here I thought The Rock posting that Hawaii video was a trick. I do wish parts of Cena's heel turn played out better, but I did enjoy how, at the press conference, he refused to answer any questions and called all the reporters out for doing clickbait. Truthfully, I didn't hate the match. It's far from the worst WrestleMania main event. Now I'm curious if fans booing Cody is just a Vegas thing or if this is going to be what we have to look forward to in the summer, and if fans continue to grow tired of Cody, how WWE will deal with it. I think it was also a problem that Cena and The Rock weren't on TV more to build up this matchup. Also, I do think it's a problem that Cena isn't wrestling very much right now and his feud with Cody wasn't very physical. But Cena winning the title for right now is fine. It's not like he needs to hold it a long time. He could lose it by SummerSlam if not earlier. Heck, if fans continue disliking Cody, that just might turn him babyface again. All criticisms aside, I'm fine with the result though, and I think people were being a bit too hard on this match.

feels like Gunther/Jey should have ended with a pinfall, and Cena/Cody should have ended with a submission (Cody passing out in the STF)

Sinners - I'm not the biggest horror guy and when you mix action and horror I tend roll my eyes. I did not roll my eyes at this. I knew very little about this movie going in. I just thought it was a period piece with Michael B. Jordan. It is so much more than that and I'm so very glad for that! Im not going to do a synopsis, just go see this and have a good old time at the movies. It's like Near Dark and Crossroads kinda had some creepy, ultra talented child! James

Oooo, I think we got a winner: 911

Just finished Spring Break and I thought this has been the best show I've seen this weekend so far. People have commented on some of the other matches, but I thought Mance Warner/Gabe Kidd deserves mention for how stiff it was. This was the first time I'd heard of or seen Bozilla and I thought she was an impressive specimen for being relatively new to wrestling.

Bayley deserves better.

Contracts and indies do not work the same way in Mexico that they do in the US. Most of the talent AAA uses in their television shows are not under contract. WWE buying AAA didn't get them Psycho Clown, or most of their main event stars. The guys under contract are mostly the mid-card guys that need AAA to book them out to local promoters (usually indies, that use AAA talent). AAA only runs like 30 tv tapings a year - any other AAA show is really an indie promoter. WWE buying AAA just means those indie promoters will look elsewhere for talent; Maybe CMLL, or maybe strictly freelance talent. WWE isn't going to look at the 50+ midcard acts like Fresero or Parka Negra and work to book them out on indie shows. Look at it this way - The Moreno family owns Arena Naucalpan, and have for 50+ years. For the last 25+ years they have been completely independent; They have their own training school. They run their own IWRG shows every Thursday & Sunday, which features their own trainees, and freelance talent. When they run a really big show, they may bring in some AAA talent, maybe some CMLL talent, or even name freelance guys like LA Park. If AAA is no longer booking guys out for Indy shows, IWRG is just going to book more freelance and CMLL guys, or just rely more on their own students. They aren't going to stop having shows. The AAA talent no longer getting enough bookings to pay their bills will have to go freelance, jump to CMLL if they have that chance, or hang it up.

Right now, any AAA talent not under contract that would not be on WWE's radar is crossing their fingers while calling someone in CMLL looking to jump. WWE may try to pry away a couple of CMLL starts, but if any promotion in the history of wrestling knows how to drop a talent and move someone else I to their spot without really missing a beat, it is CMLL. I mean, like 5yrs ago they cut ties with Rush, Dragon Lee, and Los Dinimatas, and they are currently doing some of their best business in the past 20 years. So WWE comes in and snatches away Titan or Soberano Jr. They'll just move someone up, and move on. With all of the AAA talent that is about to be unemployed, the indies are going to thrive, with a ton more available talent. And with AAA out of the picture, there could be a lot less restrictions on who can work with who. We could have something ridiculous like Guerrero Maya Jr vs Aerostar headlining Arena Naucalpan.

Their plan is a controlling interest in the business worldwide. It’s only a matter of time before someone in Japan gives in. Obviously it’s nothing new in the world of big business and entertainment but ultimately it is going to sterilise the industry. Probably time to finally admit this is so far removed from the wrasslin’ I grew up with that it’s just not worth discussing anymore. That said though, if I’ve said it once I’ve said it 1000 times, fuck WWE.

I thought it was the current singer from Accept

Your wife is giving you a pass, man. TAKE IT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

https://x.com/WrestleTalk_TV/status/1913709698983100878

Friday Honor! Straight to the action with Bandido & Komander over the Infantry was fun. Dustin & the Von Erichs retain the trios over Johnny TV & MxM was a good one. Lee Johnson was dripping blood by the end of his match with Sammy Guevara. Lee & Blake Christian attack Sammy after. EJ Nduka seems to have disappeared lately since Lee started teaming with Blake. Dustin & the Von Erichs make the save but get attacked by Johnny and MXM again. Looks like a 10 man tag set up if the faces add one more. the Righteous and the Kingdom both announced to return next week. I'd been wondering about Taven & Bennett's absence lately. Jon Cruz & Rosario Grillo actually get an entrance en route to being squashed by Dark Order. The Frat House come out after and beat up their own pledges which turns into a quick squash and Dark Order chase them off after. the ROH Women's Pure Championship is announced with a tournament starting with Queen Aminata vs Serena Deeb in round 1 at Supercard of Honor. That shall be awesome. the Lucha Trios tradition returns for the main event this week with Atlantis Jr getting the win again.

So it's schadenfreude. I suppose that's a little bit better, but I can see the lust to look at pretty, expensive things -- and people -- lurking right below. But hell, watch what you want. Most people wouldn't want to see the evocations of misery I prefer in my cinema anyway

You must realize that I (probably) will watch anything. Movies today....not as much as usual due to waking up early to move boxes to a storage unit. Chilly Scenes of Winter (Criterion Channel, leaving on 4/30) - 5/5 stars Freaky Tales (saw in the theaters) - 5/5 stars Crossing Delancey (Criterion Channel, leaving on 4/30) - 5/5 stars

I always remember the first half of that movie being pretty good, the second half isn't bad but more of a sad bore. When it comes to 1980's Robin Williams flicks that might be considered bad, I love Club Paradise!